Still recovering from recession, R.I.’s ‘green-collar’ sector sees hope in an apprenticeship program

We are so grateful to the state of Rhode Island and Real Jobs RI for the investment and support of RINLA’s Registered Apprenticeship Program for agriculture and plant-based industry — the first in the country. What a great success story for Rhode Island!

Below is a link to a May 11 article in Providence Business News on RINLA’s Registered Apprenticeship Program. While overall we felt it captured the complexity and the opportunity presented in addressing our workforce needs, we feel one sentence is a bit misstated and may be confusing:

“While supporters are hopeful, the program is off to a slow start. Much of what was taught during a preliminary three-week program in February will be repeated this spring, but RINLA has yet to implement meetings specifically focused on apprenticeship programming.”

This pilot program hit the ground running and has met and exceeded all benchmarks, which shouldn’t be characterized as a “slow start.” We look forward to continuing to build this program. We have held many meetings with participating member companies, the Dept. of Labor and Training and grant partners focused on the apprenticeship programming. Once the program was registered with the state in late February we could form an official Apprenticeship Training Committee and the first meeting will be held in June.

We realize that a reporter has a herculean task in compiling information and interviewing people to write a story – and we thank them for covering RINLA’s Registered Apprenticeship program.

About Us

RINLA, which represents a $2.5 billion industry in Rhode Island, is one of the oldest and leading voices throughout the state and region regarding integrated resilience and innovation, climate change and green-blue infrastructure.